The Gold Cup winner's crown at Ascot has been regularly defended since the race was inaugurated in 1807, but very rarely has it been reclaimed.
Anticipation, in 1819, and Kayf Tara, in 2000, were the only previous winners of the Gold Cup in non-consecutive years. Kyprios cantered to post for the royal meeting's feature race yesterday, and it was only after an extended and memorable battle with Trawlerman, who had beaten Kyprios the last time they met, that Aidan O'Brien's six-year-old became the third name on the list.
There was no doubting Kyprios's quality before yesterday's Group One contest. He stamped himself as the outstanding stayer of his generation in an unbeaten six-race campaign in 2022, when his victories included the Gold Cup, the Goodwood Cup and a scarcely credible 20-length romp in the Prix du Cadran at Longchamp.
An injury-blighted 2023 season left his career in the balance, however, and it is the latest of a long and ever-extending list of achievements by O'Brien to have prepared Kyprios, both physically and mentally, for the rigours of a winning run in a Gold Cup.
This story is from the June 21, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the June 21, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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